TotTE Episode 4: Secret Constructive Destruction
by Experiment 442
Summary: Sam's arrival brings a few supprises to the base.
1. Chapter 1

Secret Constructive Destruction

February 2013

Part 1

Alex did the last thing he had expected to do. "General Sheppard, release nerve gas in complex seventeen."

"Prepare to be beamed out." John replied hurriedly. A flash of light struck the surrounding area and they appeared in the control room. "We're doing the same at the other crash site."

"Good." Alex looked at the now exploding orb. "What's that?"

"That 'was' a crush shield." He had probably made the name himself.

"All life forms in the crash zones have been neutralised." The weapon's officer, Bill, said. "Wraith shield shell is also destroyed."

"It's better than my name, shield shell, let's go with that." He looked as if he was silently praising the fact he had named something.

"Long range sensors have picked up ten hive ships approaching." The sensor officer, Kim, informed. "Another five are right behind them. They'll be here within two days."

"It's going to be a long week." He sat down and put his head back. "Go get some rest."

Kim and Bill exchanged looks and glanced to John again. "Really?" They said mutually.

"Yes," He said. "You deserve it."

"Thank you sir." They each said as they left the room. As the reached the door they were hand in hand.

Alex looked to John as he stood up and took a breath. "You lot as well." He looked around the room waiting for the entire staff to leave. "I need to think."

They started to leave but Alex cloaked as he left the room and went back in.

John was sitting in the chair, head in hands while his elbows rested on the chair's arms. He was staring out the front window at the mountain range beyond the APBW array.

"First missing resources and now a full on wraith attack." He said to himself. "What the hell am I going to do?" He wondered the control room in thought then stopped and pulled up some logs on a computer. "Why aren't we getting all the resources we should be?" He tapped on the keyboard a few more times and sat in the chair.

Alex silently moved behind him and looked at what he was staring at. Resource logs. He pulled up a graph that showed a dramatic decline over the past few months of outgoing resources to the estimated mined amount.

John put his head back in surprise. "That's not right." He tapped a few more times to find that maintenance of the mining robots had gone up over the past few months as well. Alex was as puzzled as John looked. "What do you think?"

Alex stayed quiet.

"I know your there Alex, I was hoping you'd stay actually." John said as he turned the chair on its rotation joint. "What do you think?"

Alex took his helmet off so it looked like it was hovering. "Seems like the maintenance teams are either taking the mined resources, or they're reprogramming the robots to make a stockpile in the mountains. Looks like a trust op to me."

"I thought so too." John agreed. "I'll have to tell Carter when she arrives."

"When is that?" Alex asked as he put his helmet back on.

"Later today." John said. "I'm meeting up with her about a new ship design."

"When are missions going to start again?" He asked. "My people are getting restless with just patrol after patrol."

"When she reveals why I was ordered to stop construction of the 304s in orbit." He chuckled. "She probably knows where my resources are going anyway."

"So it's not a trust op then?" Alex asked, starting to become puzzled.

"It might be, but I'm hoping Carter can sort this out."

"And if she can't?"

"We're screwed." John admitted. "I'm also ordered to start construction of this new ship when I've been told about it."

"What's it called?"

"Something like the FGS-three-one-one-oh-one. She says it's going to make me shit myself when I see it."

"Sam Carter said that?"

"Well, a bit less colourful, but in essence, yes." John said as he opened the door. "You've got patrol in an hour right?"

Alex rolled his eyes behind the helmet. "Yes."

"Put team three on it." John said. "Take the day off."

"Thanks John." He said. What am I going to do for a day? He thought to himself. It suddenly dawned on him. He'd do nothing. "John, with the lack of missions, there's been a lot of stress around the base."

"I know, what are you getting at?" John asked.

"It's just I have an idea that would pass for training, which could be a nice thing for troops to cool off."

"You're not going where I think you're going right?" John looked around for Alex. "If you are, I'm with you on that."

"I've been killed." Mellor said over the radio. "Can't help you I'm afraid."

"Damn numb packages." Edward muttered as he let loose a stream of red at the Netherland's eleventh squad to reach his position in the last two hours. "Alex, where are you?"

A red spark flew through the air and took down a soldier close to John. He looked around and saw Alex waving from a building window.

He fired another ten shots before he was pinned down by a constant rampage of red fire. Edward took his chance and made a run for it. His legs gave way instantly and then so did his arms. Another hit his chest then one red bolt hit his helmet.

He blinked twice as the feeling came back to his thumb. He saw lights surrounding him, bright ones at that. He heard a voice come to his ears.

"Can you hear me?" It was a female voice ringing through his ears. "Major Saunders, can you hear my voice."

"Yes." He said in splutter of numbness. "I can hear you." Not managing most of the letters while he spoke.

"Well, you took a beating." She poked his cheek. "Can you feel that?"

"Kind of."

"Ok, as I was saying, you took a beating during war games." She finished. "They kept shooting at you, you must have pissed them off."

He suddenly realised that voice. "Lauren?"

"Yep." She said humorously. "I've been waiting to rub it in your face."

"Tell Sheppard those rounds need to be toned down." He croaked.

"They were down as low as they could go." She continued. "You were shot about twenty five times. So your armour stiffened up and then you went cold out." She pecked his cheek. "Still, it's good to be able to shoot something moving after this long."

"What day is it?" he asked.

"You've been out three hours." She corrected. "I've been out two."

"Oh." He tried to move his hand. He could move it slightly.

"Give it a minute." She said. "Alex fell down some stairs."

"Is he ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine." He said appearing from somewhere out of his sight. "Took me a while to pull myself back to base though."

"You were the one that suggested the time-dilation building." Edward said hoarsely. "Your own fault."

"Yeah, well get well soon." Alex said.

"Welcome to Pegasus Command Sam." John said as he stood in front of the gate. "And, Jack, you look younger, a lot younger."

"Clone." Sam said, as if that would mean anything to John. "Long story."

"What's it-"

"Call me Jack." It said dead-tone.

"What's Clone Jack doing here?" John asked, slightly confused.

"He's going to be in command of the PCDS-4."

"Ah, ok." John said. "Welcome to my command."

"Don't patronize me." He said. "I may look in my twenties, but I'm the same age as 'Real' Jack, here." He pointed to his head.

"Ok." John steered the conversation away by asking. "What's this new ship then?"

"I'll show you later, can I look around the base and the resource base as well?"

"Sure." John pointed to the right exit from the gate room. "This way."

"Is General O'Neil here or not?" A soldier asked John in the mess hall. "You keep saying he isn't but we see him around the base all the time."

John stood on the table, determined to stop these damned questions. "The O'Neil here is a clone, not General O'Neil. He was made by a rouge Asgard and he's going to be in charge of a fighter defence squadron for Pegasus command. Now, no more questions about this! It's driving me crazy!"


	2. Chapter 2

Secret Constructive Destruction

February 2013

Part 2

Carter sat in a metal room. A chair sat in the darkness with her. A slight glow was coming from a consol, but it was just a light she was using. The mining robots had done their job well. With more precision than she had anticipated. She stood up and said, "Lights," to turn them on. The room brightened up without flickers, just an instant flash and the lights were on. She smiled and walked to the centre of the large room. It was about fifty meters from side to side and had a ring platform at the back. She was on the communication level, the first level. The sensor level was her net stop.

She pressed a few buttons to the side of the rings and appeared a level above. She walked in and said, "lights," Again. It was the same size as the previous room. She walked to the centre chair by the blue view screen and brought up a system diagnostic. After ten minutes, the diagnostic finished and came up with all green. She went to the next level and did the same.

The fourth, and top, floor of this area was different. Each seat around the large chair in the middle had a flat stump of metal. It was a holographic projector. There were three in a sort of circular motion in front of the chair. When turned on, each showed a command chair of the sensors, weapons, and engineering. The three floors below her were of these specialities. She ran a diagnostic from the chair in the centre of the room then, when it all came green, started a power-up sequence.

When the ship hummed to life, she started the engines up and, after a few minutes of upward travel, the darkness became light. The sunlight flittered in like a warm breeze. She activated the cloak, using the shield to project it around the ship, and headed for next to the base.

She put the ship down a kilometre away from the base and transported herself to her room in the facility.

"John!" Sam shouted as he was on his way to breakfast. "I need to tell you about something." She said quietly.

"What is it?" John asked, talking at an equal volume. "I'm hungry."

"Get your breakfast then meet me a kilometre west of the base." She thought for a second. "Centre base."

"So, one kilometre west of centre base." He said groggily. "Ok."

She walked off down the hall with a grin on her face. John headed back on his way to the mess hall. He got his 'food' and sat down next to Ronon and McKay, who were deep in conversation about something.

"You can't just wander over to a wraith and stab it." McKay was saying. "It would hear you."

"You don't walk over. You run over and jump at it." He corrected. "They never react in time."

"Yes, but what if there are more than two and one is behind a tree?" McKay protested.

"You always make sure you know how many there are before you attack." Ronon noticed John at the table.

"What you two talking about?" John asked as he ploughed into his breakfast.

"What tactics we should teach the men before our attack on the wraith to get back a few ZPMs." McKay said offhand. "Ronon is in charge of military action."

Ronon smiled. "I'm the best at killing wraith."

"You still follow my orders." McKay pointed out.

"Actually, he doesn't." John informed. "If you get attacked, he decides what happens, not you." Ronon's smile became a beaming grin. "Apparently you're getting another ship."

"We already have two 304s." McKay said. "We're just going in and going out."

"But you don't know how big that facility is." John said. "You don't even know if there is a facility."

"Well they're not exactly powering ancient warships are they?" McKay said. "Or they are..." He trailed on. "Maybe there are ancients there."

"Just take a stealth ship with you to find out." John said as he finished the last of his 'food'. He stood up and said, "I bid thee farewell." With a smile he put his tray in the wash and started to walk out. Sam was standing there beaming. "Alright, I'm coming."

"Good." Sam started to walk at a rather fast pace.

"What happened to meeting me a kilometre out from the base?" John asked.

"Change of plans." She said. "Larrin is coming as well."

"What?" John said, flabbergasted, "Why?"

"I thought the Travelers would want to know about this as well." She said while reaching for her earpiece. "Control, beam us nine hundred and fifty metres west of the base centre exactly."

They appeared in the green field outside the base and apparently in the middle of nowhere. Sam muttered something else and Larrin appeared in a flash of light. Sam was already walking ahead with a device in her hand. She pressed a button and they felt a slight tingly sensation as something passed over them. John stumbled back slightly in shock as he looked at the large writing in front of him.

'FGS-311-01 ARIA' was how it read. He looked to both sides and saw it stretch on for a while, he couldn't grasp the size of it. Carter turned back to them and said.

"I make the cloak involve us so that we can see it." She said. "Say hello to the ship that can take on a super hive and win."

"Uh, hello." John said as he looked up. He was in its shadow and felt small. He could tell they were next to the hangar, but he was smaller than the writing on the side.

"Its over one thousand one hundred metres long, six hundred and fifty metres in width and over one hundred and fifty metres tall." She held up the device she was holding and a hologram appeared of what he assumed was the ship. "We are the three dots by the side."

"Where?" John asked.

"There." Larrin said pointing to what join thought was a fly in the way. "I must say those weapons on the side are huge."

"Ah yes, we spent months designing the HFAPBW, High Frequency Asgard Plasma Beam Weapon," she informed. "In simulations they will disintegrate anything they touch and can destroy shields easily."

"Wraith don't use shields though." He said, not understanding.

She looked at him and shook her head. "It was also designed to destroy 304s."

Larrin looked between them confused. "Why would you want a ship that can destroy your own?"

"Because the Trust steals our ships." John said. "I told you that yesterday."

"Oh, right." Larrin looked at the hologram for a minute before she spoke the words, "Can we have a look around inside?"

"Yes." Carter pressed another button on the device and they appeared in a large room. "This is the main control room."

"Wow." John said. "It's bigger than a 304's, that's for sure."

"There are another three levels below." She informed. "I'll let you look around. Just stay together and keep this with you." She handed over another device that looked like hers. "Press the red button when you want to go back to base."

"Thanks." John said as he pocketed it. "Where's the map?"

"Press the green button for the map, blue is for where you are in the map." Sam said, there was probably a more complex name for most of this, but Sam was going easy on him. It was the morning after all. "Have fun, I've got work to do."

He pressed the button to tell him where they were in the ship and it told them they were at the front. He looked around and saw two large rail gun batteries on either side of the bridge. Behind this in the next section was a lot of mission silos and behind that on the next section were a lot of big guns. Two either side were 'wings' that held a huge hangar on their far side and a very large cannon shaped thing. On the 'wing's' far side away from the body was another large rail gun battery. To the back were six clearly visible engines and another three, two medium and one small, at the back of each hangar.

"Where first?" John asked as he saw Larrin stare at the missile silos.

"There." She pointed where she was looking.

Ten hours later and John and Larrin were still walking around the ship. They'd gone by the mess hall for some food, which had been programmed into a matter converter, it was the first food he had eaten that tasted good. They were now in the engine room looking at the large cylinders that went nearly to the front of this section, behind the 'neck'. All six were the same size and each was turned off. They were both on a railing near the middle of the large room.

"Looks like we're in the noisiest part of the ship." John said as he heard a slight humming from the main reactors. "This any different from the generation ships?"

"Yeah, it's clean and there aren't wires hanging from all over the place." She said as the lights flickered on and off a few times. "And the faulty wiring." She added with a giggle.

"Yeah, it explains the loss in resources I've been having." He said.

"You didn't know about it?" She asked with slight surprise. "That's just bad leadership."She nudged closer to him ever so slightly. "Why did you get command here?"

"I've been fighting the wraith as a military soldier longer than anyone." He replied. "They made me general for this campaign."

"Campaign?" She turned her entire body towards him. "What are you going to do after this then?"

"I don't know." He replied, turning to her. "Probably go back to Earth and see where I'm needed."

"Why?" She stepped towards him. "Don't you have a reason to stay?"

"We were ordered to take out the wraith then help the Pegasus chose a government. After that, we lend as much help as they need to survive."

"What if I gave you a reason to stay?" She stepped closer again. Her face was nearly a foot away. "A very important reason?"

John pulled his groggy eyes open and yanked his head up. He covered his ears as the blazing alarm of his cloak went off. It stopped as he pushed it off the bedside table. He looked around his room and saw that his cloves were over the floor. He got up and got into his uniform. What happened last night? He thought as he tried to recount his memories. He remembered a very large ship called the Aria, he wasn't about to forget that, there was something else though. Something he had been drinking for.

He decided on thinking about it then headed for the control room. Sam was standing there ordering the staff around.

"I thought you were going to have a lay in, so I thought I'd take charge until you got here." She said. "But I see you're here on time."

"Yeah, just got a slight hangover, could you not speak so loud?" He doubted she was shouting, but it felt like that, "Otherwise my head will explode and brains will go everywhere."

"No brains, just skull fragments." Sam said evilly. "Just grab breakfast first, I'll be in charge until you get here."

"Ok." John said. "Did anything really important to my life happen last night?"

She stepped so close she was talking into his ear. "You're unveiling the Aria today." It sounded like she was hitting his head with a sledge hammer. "Five O'clock."

"Ok." He said. He turned around and left the room. "I wonder if they do hangover cures in the mess hall.

Larrin walked by with a beaming smile on her face. As she walked passed him she brushed his side with her hand. He looked back towards her then as she disappeared, rubbed his head.

"I need food." He said to himself, determined to remember what happened the previous night.

It was five O'clock and the army was now standing by the west side of the base. Larrin was nowhere to be seen, so she much have been in the crowd. He knew for sure something had happened, he just didn't know what. Was it just a kiss? Or did it go the whole way?

He walked up to the podium and the army went silent. Three shadows were on either side of him cloaked. He knew the others were standing at the front, all cloaked. They would appear when the ship appeared. If he didn't mess up on the speech, then it would be a great show.

"As all of you know, we have soldiers on the base that keep us all safe. Some of you call them the secret police, unfortunately, and some of you call them the shadows. You don't know how many of them there are. They are not there to spy on you. They are there like security. I've heard rumours that some of you think they're not real and that some of you think there is an army of them. Both of those rumours are half right." The Shadows uncloaked and came to attention. "They're ordered to stay cloaked like that all the time so that nobody knows who they are. But there is also something much worse that is cloaked behind me. It could tear apart a city with one shot and could make most of you give up if you saw it. Fortunately, it's not going against you." There were looks of anger, confusion, looks that screamed 'you betrayed us'. "This is going against the wraith." He smiled as looks of shock filled the crowd. The Aria must have uncloaked behind him. It was confirmed with a nudge from a still cloaked shadow. "This is the Aria FGS-three-one-one-oh-one. It was designed to destroy the worst the wraith could throw at us. If they see this in a fight, they'll say to themselves, 'we're dead'." He joked. "As of now missions will be given out and the shadows are looking for recruits. You'll know if you've been chosen for the shadows." He looked around the crowd. "Go kick their arses out of this galaxy!"

Cheers raged out from around the crowd like thunder. John stepped down and felt Alex tap him on the shoulder. "Could've been better mate." He said as he walked off.


	3. Chapter 3

Secret Constructive Destruction

February 2013

Part 3

Ronon smiled as a blue beam, with a centre purple colour, ripped through the last hive over Pegasus Command. He sat down in the captains chair as McKay walked in.

"You're kidding?" He said as he saw Ronon sitting in the chair. "I thought you were just head of military, not the ship."

"You're in luck McKay." Someone from behind McKay said. "I'm captain." It was that Ford kid, the one that got drugged up on wraith Enzyme. "If you don't mind Ronon?"

"Mind what?" Ronon asked to get on his nerves.

"Could you get out of my chair?" Ford repeated, this time a bit more sternly.

"I could." Ronon said, getting on Fords nerves a bit more.

"Get out of the chair." Ford said dead-tone now. Ronon got up and shoved passed Ford. He stood at the back of the room, leaning against the wall, and probably a door mechanism of some kind. "How are we doing in engineering?"

"Everything is green." The hologram replied.

"Sensors?"

"We're loud and hearing."

"Weapons?"

"Locked and loaded."

The Engineer seemed slightly set back he hadn't said something other than everything is green. The best one Ronon could think of, was probably ready to race.

"Ok then." Ford said. "As the warm ups over let's head off."

"Good." McKay said. "I want to get going. That's a lot of ZPMs to just leave alone."

"How many are there anyway?" Ford asked.

"About a dozen, but there could be more." McKay excitedly said. "We could make Atlantis powerful enough to leave Earth and bring it back here."

"Permission has been granted to enter hyperspace." The sensor officer's hologram informed.

"Tell the Vanquish and Deadalus to leave in thirty seconds." Ford said. "Make sure they understand the plan as well." He added.

"Yes sir." The hologram replied as it faded away.

Thirty seconds later the vortex of hyperspace sucked them in and the three ships cruised along to the target system. Ronon left the control room and headed towards the mess hall.

First day on mission:

Ronon seems to be a major PITA for me. He doesn't follow orders and thinks I'm no better than him in combat. I'll have to talk to him about that. The hyper-drive on the Aria is fluctuating slightly. It should hold together until we reach the target system though. I've also put together a COD tournament each night to keep the crew interested. So far things are going good.

"Ronon." Ford said to get his attention. "We need to talk."

"About what?" Ronon asked as he turned slightly.

"About your problem with me." He motioned towards an empty briefing room.

"I just don't know who you are." He said simply.

"Yeah well, I understand your problem, I've got the same thing with you, but that's no reason to just think I'm not there."

"I'm not doing that." He replied. "If I understand your ranking system, I would be above you if I were in my military."

"I heard about your planet being destroyed, and I have no idea what that feels like." He took a breath. "But I know what it's like running from the wrai-"

Before he could finish Ronon was at his throat with a knife. Ford didn't flinch, he'd met a few runners, he'd helped them, he'd killed them, and he'd gotten used to their tricks. "You have no idea what it is like to be a runner." He pushed Ford back slightly and pushed the knife closer. "You tried to find them."

"Yeah, I did try to find them." He looked Ronon in the eyes. "And I've met nearly ten runners in my, old life." He put simply. "You've each lost people, you've each had to uproot your life in fear of hurting other people. Then there's the constant stream wraith that have become your purpose."

Ronon eased up in shock. He didn't show it.

"The wraith uprooted my life." He continued. "They made me leave countless civilisations in fear of hurting them. I've lost people. Good people. Now I don't fit in because I keep thinking in strategy. John hasn't noticed, but I don't talk to people. I spend my time thinking about what to do if this happens."

Ronon put the knife back and embraced Ford in a bear hug for a second.

"Good to have someone who understands." He said as he left the room.

"I didn't think it would be that easy." He said to himself as he walked out of the room.

Fourth day on mission:

I've been busy lately. The hyper-drive is starting to worry the engineers and they want it checked on when we return to command. Ronon seems to be in line now and McKay is planning to send a probe when we reach the outskirts of the system. It's another two days until we reach the target.

"How are things with you and Jennifer?" Ronon asked suddenly as McKay took a sip of coffee.

"They're, not that good." He admitted while trying to cool his throat. "It's the long distance thing." He took another sip. "I'm going to try and get back to Earth as soon as possible."

"I thought she would be coming here." Ronon said. "I thought we needed medics."

"She's teaching them on Earth." McKay said. "She's needed more there than she is here."

"Like you're needed more here than you are there?" Ronon suggested. "I only backed off because I thought you'd stay by her side through everything." He got up to leave before McKay could reply.

Instead, he shouted, "I'm not going to let anything bad happen to her when I go back."

Ronon stopped suddenly and turned to him. He delivered a half smile of 'thank you' then walked out of the mess hall.

There was a horrid screeching noise then everything that wasn't pinned down flew to McKay's right, including himself. He hit the metal wall and felt a pain in the side of his head. Several other people around him had probably been thrown this way as well. People started to run towards them, a few stopped dead in their tracks as they gazed out of the windows.

McKay pulled himself up and slumped against the bulkhead with his good arm, he couldn't feel the other one. He nearly fell back as he noticed the nothingness around them. They weren't in hyperspace anymore. But it was too soon, they were two days out. He limped his way to a teleport and headed for the main control room.

"What's happening?" He asked Ford as he slumped against another wall. Ronon was already standing at the bridge.

"The hyper-drive malfunctioned." Ford said regretfully. "The engineers told me it would hold together for a week more. They say they can fix it, so don't worry." He saw McKay's arm. "Go get someone to look at that." He added.

"Ok." McKay said as he went back to the teleport station and headed to the infirmary.

"I thought you'd be up here." Larrin's voice sounded from behind him. "We were up here after our look around the Aria." She came to his side and gripped his hand. "You were also drinking a bit."

"Yeah, I can't remember much of it." He admitted. "How far did it go?" He added.

"You passed out before we got that far." She confirmed.

"I thought I would remember that." He mused.

"Have you got an answer then?" She asked, full knowing what he would say.

"Yes." He looked her in the eyes. "You're stuck with me."

She smiled and pulled his head down for a kiss.


	4. Chapter 4

Secret Constructive Destruction

February 2013

Part 4

"That was all?" McKay asked an engineer as he was informed of the problem with the hyper-drive. "It wasn't cleaned properly?"

"Well, there was a rock stuck in the main power conduit." The engineer replied. "So, yes."

McKay rolled his eyes and transported to the bridge. "'Repairs' are done." He told Ford while sitting in an empty chair at the back of the control room.

"Good." Ford said as he sat in his captain's chair. "Let's head off."

"Seven seconds out," The co-pilot of eye-one said as they exited hyperspace. "Scanning the system for wraith presence." His eyes turned into pebbles. "Thirty ships sir, identifying as twenty cruisers and ten hives."

"Send all sensor logs back to the Aria." The pilot said. "We'll stay and wait for the attack."

"Yes sir."

"Thirty seconds sir." Ford's engineer officer informed.

"Good, make sure the Vanquish and the Deadalus are on their sides while we drive through the middle."

"I'm not sure about the plan." McKay said. "We have three ships, they have thirty, they outnumber us ten to one."

"We'll cut that number in half with the first full salvo launch when we exit hyperspace. The stealth ship already have the targets for us."

"I'm still not sure." McKay muttered as he grudgingly sat at the back and saw the fleet of ships ahead.

As missiles and fighters alike were launched, O'Neil waited for the hangar bay doors to drop them into the combat. The doors suddenly opened and he was dropped into an inferno of battle. He blasted his engines to full power then slowed down slightly to let his squadron catch up.

"Let's cull 'em." Jack said over the mic.

"Yes sir." A reply came as the first sight of enemy fighters approached. The sight quickly became a spectacle as the clouds of fighters hummed closer.

Soon they were in firing range and missiles were loosed by the sixty 302s whipping into the cloud. Machine guns blazing and ships rocketing, jack's squadron split up when they entered the looming cloud of maelstrom like conditions. The blue energy of darts whizzed past them, only very rarely hitting the newly installed shields, designed to survive a maximum of five dart shots.

"We've lost seven and two sir!" Jack's second informed.

"Clear area One squadron." The weapon's station on board the Aria ordered. "Concentrating starboard railgun battery on the darts in thirty seconds."

Jack swerved a blue bolt and flipped around. He could see the beams from the three massive ships lancing into the enemy hives with unnatural force.

"Clear area now!" Jack ordered as a blue jolt struck his shield.

Most returned with an affirmative, but three responded with, "I'm blocked out!"

It was too late.

The storm began as the railguns blasted through the side of the Aria. Waves of green rounds flew through the coldness of space and decimated the cloud. Four seconds later and there was nothing but a debris field. The bodies that littered the cloud of dark objects were wraith, but the metallic remains of a 302 sat in the centre.

"Group up One squadron." Jack said while a hive's left portion broke off and, strangely, continued to fire. "More darts from the surface."

"What the fu-" The last of Two squadron's leader's words were cut off with static.

"Hives have been cleared." The Aria informed him. "Cruisers are being cleaned up by the Vanquish and Deadalus. Keep the stray darts at bay while we land troops." There was a pause. "This is a vital part of the mission. They will keep launching darts until we remove the ZPMs. McKay thinks this is a dart growing facility."

"So, we need to take out the darts while the troops are dropped?" Jack asked.

"Yes, make sure the tanks get down, they are vital to breaking the shield around the complex. We can't risk over doing this mission."

"Affirmative." Jack replied.

"Baby sitting duty?" One of his pilots said with a tad of disgust. "We have the Jack O'Neil as our commander! We should be down there taking out the first line of defence!"

"Clean up the chatter, we have orders." Another of the pilots said before Jack could respond.

"Let's move then."

With the slight tingle of happiness that seemed to follow his every footstep around the base, John turned into his office with a smug grin on his face. The mission was underway, all space forces had been taken out with two full salvo releases from their task force, and troops were landing; most of the new recruits were on the short list for the Shadows, but they had chosen one hundred that they knew would stay allied; the missions were back on track; and he was finally truly happy in his life of grief, shielded by a humour block. There was also Woolsey being somewhat more happy around base.

He sat down in his comfy office chair and spun around once. Joyful to the core, he could get struck by lightning seven times and still be happy. He looked up, just in case his thought would come true and then shook it off as Woolsey walked through the door.

"General Sheppard." He said in his now friendly voice.

"Woolsey." Sheppard watched him walk into the room. He sat in the chair opposite John's desk. "What is it then?"

"I Believe I have become," He swallowed. "I have become useless to the base's operations."

_I don't need to be told that!_ "Why?" John asked as if he didn't know.

"I have not been sending my usual reports to the IOA and my paper work has grown into a rather large mountain." He stood up. "I have requested another IOA representative to oversee this base." He walked out of the room, pausing at the door to give a slight nod of his head.

John felt like he'd been struck by eight lightning bolts.

Fires raged in the vacuum above the wraith planet. Darts humming in the coldness of their grim workings, Jack pulled his fighters back to regroup.

"We've lost six more fighters sir." Two squadron informed. "requesting to join three squadron with my remaining 302s sir."

"Granted." _Down to fifty one._ He thought to himself. "Loosen up and cover each other. Squadron Two follow my lead."

The constant line of darts paused every now and again to gain numbers. The 302s pulsed towards the growing cloud and the last of the missiles trundled through space. white explosions followed and the titter tatter of bullets lit the scene.

Blue flashes started to rain towards the vast 302 fleet. Blazing his machineguns, jack entered the cloud for the sixth or seventh time. It was rather scary flying through a sea of swirling glows, flashes, and fleshy hulls. He sharply turned up, which then became his left then turned right as it became his down. After a few more confusing manoeuvres, Jack's machineguns clicked.

"I'm out, reequipping on Aria and calling 302s back." He informed his Squadrons and the Aria. "Vanquish, requesting you cover our arses."

As the jet streams of fifty fighters zoomed towards the massive ship, fountains of railgun fire lashed out towards the clouds of fighters. The Vanquish was a more anti-fighter role 304 than the refitted heavy duty Deadalus. The Aria was hovering above the planet like a glistening star of activity. Drop-ships holding men, tanks, and other equipment gathered in small groups. Nearly all had been stored in the belly hangar bay. The starboard hangar bay's 304 sized bulkhead hissed gas as it slowly pulled to either side. The hangars were about twice as long as 304 hangars, and could hold ten fighters each.

Entering the hangar was easy enough. Landing was too, with help from a gravity manipulator device they had built with help from the Asgard core, the 'tractor beam' as pilots had come to call it. He landed uncontrollably in his set 'parking place' and clamps grinded to the wings of his fighter.

"What the frack?" He muttered to himself as his fighter was raised into the 'storage' position.

"Squadron One lead, all fighters are to stay in bay until we start landing troops. We need to preserve fighters for the invasion force's cover." This was the Aria's Hangar controller in his ear piece.

"That's all well and good." He agreed. "But, could you get me the hell out of this thing?"

"Negative." The hangar controller replied. "We are invading in five minutes."

"I guess I'll sit tight then." He muttered sarcastically.

"What was that lead?" The hangar controller asked.

"Nothing, just static over the comm." Jack rested a hand on the treated glass that covered the fighter's cock-pit. "I prefer Death Gliders to wraith Dart swarms." _Didn't everyone?_

As the rookies lined up, John swivelled on his office chair to look out over the courtyard. He was in the briefing room at the moment, after a rather fun game of 'scare the new recruits'. Larrin was lying on a roof on the other side of the courtyard with her face staring blankly into the skies. John swivelled around on his chair to once again look at the new shadow recruits. Alex's disembodied voice piped up.

"Attention!" Emphasising the end of an order normally got it in the recruits' heads to stand to attention. Sadly, half of them were out of time and the others were a horrid sound to John's ears. Alex uncloaked and took his helmet off. "You lot of maggots better get yourselves pulled together or else you'll fall apart in training tomorrow."

"He's telling to truth, twenty miles." John said, obviously not humorously, to assure them that they _would_ fall apart.

Alex looked at John, smiled in a way that the recruits couldn't see him and put his helmet on. "Tomorrow at four, we let you have two hours more than the rest of us so don't be late. If you don't want to do it, don't show."

Alex cloaked then the door to the balcony closed with a hiss of the hydraulic door mechanism.

"Dismissed." John ordered as he stood up and went to the balcony.

He walked out to the fresh air of wonderfully cooked 'sludge' from the vent system of the kitchen. Alex was obviously here, his head of hovering at his height looking at the constant stream of activity on the ground below.

"I bet twenty will show up." He finally said. "Ten more will show up the next day and that'll be it."

"It's a dangerous position." John said. "I bet ten." He was silent for a few moments. "Fifteen at most."

"It was pure luck that no one got hurt on our missions." He muttered. "We had the element of surprise and it was _our _base. We knew the different areas like the backs of our hands and we knew where they'd be. Next time it'll be different and people _will_ start dying."

"Look down there and guess how many are whishing they hadn't chosen this position." John said as he leaned against the metal railing on the edge.

"If I had to choose again I'd still say yes." He admitted, "The spaceships and all."

"But what if it was yesterday?" John saw Larrin stand up and look into the sky. He looked up and saw nothing.

"Probably yes."

"What I'm trying to say is, most of the soldiers down there wish they hadn't have taken this command now." Larrin was still staring into the sky.

"Because they didn't know how hard it was on us." He finished. "The Wraith's forces seem endless."

"It's a good thing that the Trust wants their soldiers to take out the wraith first then." The short term General started to get slightly worried about Larrin. "Still, the Gra'taks seem a bit more powerful than we first thought."

"I know. Five APBWs and they can fire in all directions. Still, those improved gou'ld cannons have taken down Asgard ships before, think they could bring a 304 to its knees?"

"Probably, the Odyssey was powered by a ZPM. We've found out half the APBW emitters have been badly damaged by some fault with the reactors. They were only meant to be used on our ships powered by ZPMs or a few NIGs. We've toned the APBWs down so that they don't blow up the reactors on our new 304s."

"Sounds good, will a Gra'tak be able to kill a team of ten shadows equal to SG-1?"

"I doubt it. O'Neil said it was dumb luck half the time. I'm wishing I'm a moron now."

"Why wish?" Alex said with a humorous grin. He put his helmet on and disappeared. He probably saluted while saying, "General." The hydraulic door mechanism hissed as it open and closed.

John, appearing through the door leading to the rood Larrin was on, walked over and gave her a gentle kiss on cheek. She smiled and kissed him back. Her smiled disappeared as she looked up to the sky again.

"Why not use the long range sensors?" John asked.

She looked at him in the eyes. "Because I'm not sure if they _are_ coming."

"Why wouldn't they?"

"I don't know."

Two more of the unfriendly ships appeared from their green hyperspace windows. Roughly star shaped with smoothened corners and a large superstructure that looked like a city, the ships thundered through space, beams spitting from the ends of the star tips. They stopped and started to spin, about one rotation per minute.

Captain Travis moved hurriedly towards his weapon's control officer.

"Report!" He ordered with his thunderous voice.

"Large energy readings from the tips of the enemy ships." His eyes obviously blazing with fear he added, "They're going to pummel us sir!"

"Tell _Glory_ to retreat!" He ordered his comm. officer. "Pull _Gracious _and _Holy_ away from the big one."

"Yes sir." The comm. officer replied.

Two beams streaked from the tips of the two new arrivals and sheared passed the _Victorious_' shields. Another two were sent flying towards them.

"Fire main pulse cannon." Travis ordered as the large ten pronged ship started to curl its tips inward.

A blue ripple, about as long as the beams the enemy were firing, rammed the larger ship's shields like a fly against a brick wall. The tips stopped suddenly and orange energy started to build up in centre of the ship.

Yellow bolts started to rain towards the _Glory_. Its shields rupturing, a message pinned with static and confusion entered their ears.

"Shields are failing, sub-light is offline, hyper-drive is nearly repaired. Two minutes is all we need!"

"Move us and _Holy_ to cover _Glory_ while she gets repaired. Divert their fire on us. Fire subpulsers when we are in range." Travis sat in his chair. "Pilots prep for launch."

As they moved closer the larger ship fired a single small blue projectile from the tip of the prongs. It spilt into ten, then those into ten more. They twisted and turned in their flight. He'd seen this before, but they were yellow.

"Brace for impact!" He ordered as two of the blue orbs approached.

The subpulsers opened fire on the blue projectiles, one of them exploded with tremendous force, the other hit the shield.

"Shields down to seventy percent!" His technician informed.

"Status on _Glory!_"

"She's jumping in thirty seconds sir."

"Good." Travis studied the battle in his mind for a few vital seconds. His old girl, _The Victorious_, couldn't win without at least two more ships to lend a hand. And without their proper captain, it was even worse.

He spotted at least ten enemy ships, one being the large ship capable of firing, what the tau'ri had called, drones. But these weapons were also at that battle. The Tau'ri had used them against the replicators, but why would they be using these strange ships? And why attack the Travellers? He had five ships, one of which was about to leave the fight. Vastly out numbered, he could only wish their ships were lacking fighters and anti-fighter weaponry.

Ten quick paced shots from the subpulsers streaked at one of the enemy ships. Moving passed the _Glory_, he saw her rear engines start to glow and she shot out of sight into a shimmering pool of light.

He pressed a button to the fighter control station. "Release the fighters."

The four squadrons of twelve fighters shot out of the front, aft, and side hangars towards the larger enemy ship. Little green pulses from them confirmed that they were encountering enemy fighters.

He turned his attention towards the two smaller ships. One had ceased firing and sat dormant.

"Bring us together in block formation, concentrate on the target." He placed the dormant enemy ship as highest priority on his tactical display. The two other ships joined _Victorious_ and _Holy_ in their formation. "Main pulse cannon in three, two, one."

The four ripples ran towards their targets and slid passed the shields. Hull fragments shattered in the blazing inferno of the superstructure's demise. The star prongs floated lethally towards the other enemy ship and collided with one of its sides.

Shields down, the enemy ship started to run.

"Subpulsers concentrate fire on that ship!" He ordered as forty little ripples streamed into the ship. One sub pulse cannon finished it off. "How are our fighters doing out there?"

"They are superior to the enemy's fighters and have received minimal losses."

Four against eight, he didn't like those odds.

"Pull the fighters back and retreat before the big one fires more drones." He ordered the comm. officer to tell the other captains with a slight nod of his head.

The fighters returned within a minute of his order, speeding with all might. Yellow bolts fried behind them as the enemy ships started to centre in on them. A beam struck past the shield of _Holy_.

"Fighters are in hangars and all ships report they are ready to leave." His comm. officer rushed.

"Tell them to return to the station." Travis said as he watched hyperspace engulf the ship.

The memories of Larrin filled his head. She'd be arguing that he should have done this then and that later. Then the sadness struck him, his cousin was dead. He could do nothing about that. She was gone forever and they had no idea of locating her remains for, at least, a proper generation ship's captain's funeral.

At four in the morning, the rustling of cold recruits was almost music to his ears. Alex could see about fifty here, and there were about three others approaching. Seems Mellor was closest with the bet. It was exactly four now, and Alex, as much as he wanted too, didn't want to keep his recruits waiting in the cold.

He uncloaked and shot a flare into the air, the cloaking field around them would stop the rest of base seeing it now. Everyone in the field looked form where the flare had come and gathered around Alex.

"Into line!" He ordered. The men and women formed up in rows of ten. There seemed to be exactly sixty now. "Attention!" It seemed the nights sleep had not improved their reactions. A messy stamping of feet followed his order. "Lets try that again! At ease!" This was slightly better. "Attention!" Now they were in sync. A nice single loud stomp followed his last order. "At ease, stand easy." Nearly all of them started to rub their chests in the cold morning air.

Mellor uncloaked and tapped Alex on the shoulder. "My sister is second row two in from the right. Who let her join us? She's a bloody medic!"

"And the best shot of her training group." Alex added for him. "Or are you just annoyed she's here?"

Mellor shut up and turned to the squad of troops. "All right," He said in a semi-friendly voice. "We're doing twenty miles, that's around the base once."

"Don't pressure yourselves at first, when you warm up and get into the pace of things it gets easier on you."

"Says you, you probably do ten laps a day." Mellor joked.

"Actually fifteen." He admitted. "But normally about three, haven't had much time for it."

"Where's Edd and Lauren?" Mellor asked while looking around.

"Morning quickie?" Alex joked with a chuckle. "Edd's already half way round and Lauren's on her second lap already."

"_Second_ lap?" Mellor looked at the wall of the base that incoming runners would approach. "I think I see Edd over there."

"He and Lauren woke up at three so I'm making them do double they normally do."

"Oh, uh..." He let the sentence drift slightly.

"Yep, go on slacker." Alex said as he pointed in the direction he would be running. "get moving before I start shooting."

"Yes sir." Mellor headed off at a slow pace.

"Follow my lead." He told the group of recruits. A chorus of groaning followed as their creaky joints started to move into action. "I love my job." He muttered to himself as he overtook Mellor.


	5. Chapter 5

Secret Constructive Destruction

February 2013

Part 5

The worst part was probably the smell of the place. Hundreds of decaying parts of the base, McKay said that the base wasn't designed for the amounts of power going through them. But the smell was probably the worst part. Large insect like wraith vehicles sat in pods to his left and thousands, if not millions, of others could be seen on the large circular towers that went to the darkest spots of the ceiling and ground. Red lights started to appear as another thousand darts were released to fight the oncoming tau'ri ships. Ronon could not think of any other place he didn't want to be further away from.

"Have you found a terminal yet?" McKay's irritating voice sounded in his armour.

He walked over to the platform that seemed to be in the middle of the gargantuan growing facility. Nine other walk ways reached out to the small centre column, slightly bulkier beneath the platform that surrounded the tube of, what he assumed were, power conduits. The problem he saw was: the terminal he was trying to reach, was about three miles away and hundreds of wraith would obviously be watching for intruders. He was the 'scout force' as McKay had put it, standing with three shadows that had cloaked for obvious reasons. Fortunately, he had their elite armour on as well. At the moment he was cloaked, already missing the wonderful qualities his pistol had to offer. He would make sure that the geeks in the _Aria_ would make another one that was exactly the same, but could stealth as an added feature.

"Yeah, but we'd get mowed down before we got within two miles of the thing." Motioning to the other shadows, he started off at a run toward the centre of the 'tube'.

"Ok, there must be another way around it. Hold on." McKay was silent and all that was heard was an occasional scream of darts and the rapping of feet against the soft organic path. Three minutes later they were a third of the way down the long path and Ronon's radio sounded up. He raised a fist and the three took up defensive position around him. "You'll have to run over there, no other way I'm afraid."

He made sure his radio was off before muttering, "Duh." He signalled to move out again and they headed off again. A squad of wraith was now approaching from behind, pressure pads on the walkway probably. "Only fire until we are sure they know we are here."

Several blue streaks flew past Ronon and the squad from the walls. They were aiming five meters behind them. "Orders sir?" The soldier covering the front asked as he went into a crouch.

"We'd be too easy to pick off if we stay and fight. Keep moving!" He headed off at double the speed he has before and, to his amazement, the soldiers kept pace. The sides of the room lit up with tremendous screams as darts started to awaken everywhere. Ronon opened a radio link to the _Aria_. "Every dart just woke up." He warned while the wraith from behind opened fire towards them. Plumes of gas were now starting to rise from all over the facility. The ex-runner set his helmet to record as a large tendril covered lizard look-a-like started to hover and insert the tendrils in the holes where the darts had been laying. Four more appeared on the other towers. They were slowly circling while rising up. Again the screaming of darts and the slow electrical puff of stunner bolts flew by the walkway. The soldiers started to open fire with their HPR fire and the wraith started to switch to kill.

A fire fight ensued for a few seconds before three wraith were dead, a bolt ripped into the leg of the soldier to Ronon's left. With an agenised scream his cloak failed and he stumbled off the edge of the walkway.

As Ronon stared after the man, he called, "Keep moving!" to the men. Thudding behind them were the now twenty of so wraith that had been sent to kill them. Ronon stopped and fired the rifle back with a shunt every time he fired the god damned thing. Still, he was getting wraith down now. Adjusting the power setting he started to fire five bolts a second, but it would overheat faster now. Two more wraith fell as he thundered the weapon through their ranks. A bolt rushed by his head and singed the helmet slightly.

His weapon clicked several times before he started to catch up to the still running comrades. Three bolts plucked close by his head, one gutted the soldier running in front of him. As blood started to stain the outside of the armour, a flurry of bolts smacked him, two hitting his legs and three in his chest. The soldier dropped as Ronon jumped over him and handed his overheated weapon to the other soldier.

A wild crossfire started as they found themselves in the centre of a killing zone. Ronon pulled out three shield grenades and three domes surrounded them.

"We're pinned down by heavy enemy fire!" He shouted into his microphone. "I have two men down and dozens of wraith on every side!" Flashes started to concentrate on the shield dome and he opened fire down the walkway towards a group of wraith. The soldier at his back was firing a steady stream of bolts at the wraith coming down from the platform they were trying to reach. He had another three shield domes on his belt and so did the other soldier, so did the downed seven meters behind him. He activated all the shield domes on his back and on the soldiers.

"Move!" He quickly thanked McKay for finding out how the Ancient personal shields worked. Throwing out the knives on their arms, Ronon and the soldier started cutting the nearest wraith to pieces.

"We can't help you." McKay finally stated. "Not until the shield is down."

"Commence bombardment." He heard someone order from the background of the radio. He couldn't make the voice out, but it was probably an officer.

"What the hell are you doing?" McKay swore before the radio link cut.

Ramming the knife blade into the nearest wraith's chin and into its head brought a slight smile to Ronon's face as two more slashes killed the thing. The soldier was faring slightly better than him, he had to admit. As the soldier grabbed the nearest wraith's head his knifed another, spilling its guts onto the walkway. He shot the one he was holding then opened fire on the others. Attaching the rifle to his back, the soldier ran forward towards the platform. Ronon fire a few more shots before joining him.

"What's your name?" Ronon called out.

"Colonel Alex Winters." He sniggered over the radio. "Ex-British elite forces."

"You fight like a devil."

"That's because I was one." He met a wraith and jagged the knife blade across its neck. "We better reach that within a minute."

Ronon saw the lizard that had started to turn in their direction. "Can you keep up?"

"The real question is: can you?" Winters zoomed off ahead slashing any wraith that seemed to be in his range, shooting any that he missed. Ronon was getting behind in the kills. He didn't like that.

Ronon stressed his legs and leapt after Winters. He caught up and kept in line with Winters while shooting anything that moved, and which wasn't human. They were less than twenty meters away from the terminal they needed when the lizard started to open fire upon them. About ten little arms firing in order at them. He got hit three times, each slapping the shield with a dull hiss. Winters reached the terminal and reached for his rifle. He opened fire at the lizard and it slowly started to shrink back from them.

"We're here, what now?" Ronon asked McKay.

"Implant the device Simmons has." McKay replied. Ronon sighed as he looked at the body of Simmons lying in the middle of bridge in a puddle of blood.

"Not going to happen." Ronon said as the first wraith leaped over his corpse.

"Uh, I don't know then." McKay stuttered as the sound of explosions rumbled above them. "Cease fire for Christ sake!" McKay shouted at the officer responsible of the bombardment.

"McKay, what's going on?" Ronon asked as he joined firing at the Lizard thing.

"We needed the shield down, so we decided to open fire at the base. Half the army was just beamed in through a breach we caused in the shield. In about ten seconds you'll have another seventy men around you."

Ronon looked around him then the white flashes of seventy men appeared on the walkways and tightly packed around him. A few stumbled off the edges of the walkway and screamed out as they fell into abyss.

"Spread!" Ronon ordered as the men started to open fire on the large lizards. Obviously they were not made for war. "Teams of five!" Ronon ordered. One to each walkway! The rest stay here and provide fire support. Move!" Many of the troops left behind put sniper attachments to their rifles and shot at the large lizards slowly turning toward the crowd of soldiers. The area was lit up with flashes of blue, green and silver as soldiers started to clear the area. The lizard Ronon was firing at finally screeched out and started falling to its death. Checking around the large room, ten fire fights had ensued. Every man with a sniper attachment was opening fire on the wraith attacking the groups of five. The others were shooting a steady stream of bolts at any lizard that got in their sights.

"Good timing there." Winters radioed to McKay. "We have a lizard problem in here at the moment and anti-armour would be appreciated, sirs."

"Give us five seconds." McKay said confidently as screaming darts launched from the bottom of the room. Ronon counted five and three LMPWs appeared in a flash of white. "Pick up the device from Simmons and put it in the terminal."

Ronon started the long run back down the long walkway towards Simmons' body. Out of the five Ronon had sent down here, three were still pumping energy into the wraith, one was dead and the other was limping back towards the platform. Ronon signalled two men to join him and they ran towards the frenzy of blue and silver.

"Help him!" Ronon ordered as he ran past the wounded soldier. He reached the group of three and opened fire on the two wraith standing nearest Simmons' body. He scored a quick headshot and then incinerated the other's leg. As it snarled in pain, Ronon ran over and shot it twice in the head. As a large puddle of gore started to seep from the deceased, Ronon turned Simmons' corpse over to find the device. He guessed he found it as he pulled an organic data storage device from Simmons' chest pocket. Looking around, he could tell that the teams were faring rather well with the sniper support from the platform. As he returned to the terminal he radioed to McKay. "What now?"

"Put it into the soft part." He said.

Ronon stabbed the sharp end into the soft part of the terminal and it immediately went red-ish blue. "Good, do you have the area secure?"

As the last lizard thing fell into the chasm, Ronon walked around the platform the check the teams. Each had worked their way half way or a bit further down the walkways. "Nearly."

"Ok, we're sending in a short term base camp. It'll be floating next to you and has a build in shield generators." A white flash went out as the slightly hovering room appeared. Four turrets were on the four sides and one large dish sat on the top, rotating slowly. The end with a door started to come closer to the edge of the platform and a ramp extended out.

The door opened with a hiss of steam and an officer walked out. He saluted stiffly then said, "If you have any wounded we can send them up to the _Aria_."

He did a quick check on all the soldiers on his HUD. Ten dead and nearly twice as many were injured or dying. "We've got about twenty wounded." A bolt flashed past Ronon and hit the shield of the small floating base. He pulled out the sniper attachment and fired at the three wraith responsible. "All injured pull back to my position."

A series of clicks, meaning affirmative apparently, came back to him.

"We can handle that. We have orders form McKay to release a Shadow army to retrieve the ZPMs." The officer walked back in and a steady series of flashes started. "That'll be enough command." He heard someone say from inside.

"Uncloak!" Someone ordered. Ten soldiers in the shadow armour appeared in two ranks of five in front of Ronon. Another marched out. "We will provide assistance wherever we are needed, but our primary objective is securing the ZPMs. Doctor McKay wants you to do the same with the next squad."

"Good, if you could take out the wraith on dart pillars."

"Dart pillars?"

Ronon pointed to the large pillars lined with darts.

"That's where our objective is, so we may as well clean it afterwards. You should check up on the tactical display sir." He added.

"Dismissed." Ronon said as he walked into the floating room.

Inside was basically a circular table with a hologram of the battle field on top. They were in a large room near the western side of the wraith facility. There was a rather large force of tau'ri troops and tanks to the eastern side of the base, that must have been half of the army. It looked as if they were taking large casualties as many of the blue dots started disappearing from the front of the base.

"Tell McKay I'll stay here and tell him where to send the troops." He told the nearest officer.

"But he-"

"Tell him." Ronon said sternly.

"Yes sir." The officer said tensing up.

"Pull all troops back and send the tanks forward first. Have snipers cover them. Send a tenth of the army to proceed from here and I'll assign them different tasks." He watched his orders relay from the communications officer to the _Aria_ lying in orbit. It was going to be a long campaign.


End file.
